London has 'major' TB problem

---

Tuberculosis rates in London have more than doubled in the last decade, MPs have been told.

A meeting of the global TB all-party parliamentary group heard on Tuesday that London now has the highest rates of TB of all the capital cities in western Europe, and the largest outbreak in drug resistant TB.

Simon Tanner, director of public health for NHS London, explained that 39 per cent of TB cases in England and Wales are in London.

And over half those with the disease are male, while over four fifths of those with TB are not born in the UK.

"If we don't do anything about it then nobody does," Tanner said. "We really have the major problem in the UK."

He warned the group against being "complacent", adding that a body called 'Stopping TB in London' had been set up following the chief medical officer's review of the disease.

"It is something that I personally have wanted to champion and make sure it is a London issue," he said.

Primary care trusts should also get involved and ensure that there is coherence in their procedures, Tanner explained.

"This is about real human suffering. From where I am, I see TB as something that needs to be tackled," he added.

Chief executive of Hounslow's PCT Nick Relph agreed that tackling the disease was a "real challenge" for the capital.

But he suggested that local health authorities were making progress on TB.

"We are beginning to see things working," Relph said. "However, it is difficult to hold 31 PCTs to account for anything."

He also stressed that PCTs needed to work on targeting hard-to-reach communities.

"We have the mechanisms in the capital for a London-wide approach and a London-wide strategy," Relph said.

"By 2012 we want to have commissioned a world-class TB programme throughout London."

And chairwoman of the London TB workforce group Surinder Tamne told MPs that London should learn from New York's example on how to combat a TB epidemic.

"We don't just want unity of purpose, we want unity of practice," she explained.

"We need to adapt our targets. We are a western European city, but we adhere to global health targets, which are for developing countries.

"We need to raise the bar. If we change the approach we can achieve so much. Aim high."

She explained that New York between 1988 and 1992 had a "community-based control programme" that was "more centralised and unified".

The city also had political commitment and political leadership, she added.

Tamne called on MPs to look at introducing a TB tsar for London to ensure the same sort of processes are implemented.

Article Comments